''Pandanus pyramidalis'' is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in the family

Pandanaceae Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, from West Africa to the Pacific. It contains 982 known species in five genera, of which the type genus, ''Pandanus'', is the most important, with s ...

, endemic to

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

Description

A tall species, reaching up to 15 meters in height. Its horizontal branches end in rosettes of tapering leaves. This species can be distinguished by the white or brown spines on its leaves, and by its fruit-heads which hang on strongly recurved stalks. Each fruit-head has 100-150 5.6 cm drupes, which each protrude in a glossy green "pyramid". However, the exposed tip of each drupe is flattened (the areole) and - unlike '' Pandanus heterocarpus'' - without any corky margins. The basal joined portions of the drupes become light yellow when the fruit is ripe.Vaughan, R.E. and Wiehe, P.O. 1953. ''The genus Pandanus in the Mascarene Islands''. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 55:1-32.

Habitat

It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

banks in the central highlands. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

. The last known wild specimen was destroyed in 1996 and it is possibly

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

References

pyramidalis Endemic flora of Mauritius Critically endangered plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Plants described in 1877 Taxa named by Isaac Bayley Balfour {{Pandanales-stub